T-Rat Talk: Andrew Fischer

Andrew Fischer hadn’t been a Timber Rattler very long, but he already knew he was in impressive company.

Jesús Made 🤝 @sirfischer3 #tratnation pic.twitter.com/CYAlXbDLhj

— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 22, 2025

The upcoming professional debut of the Brewers’ first round pick (and the 20th overall pick) in the 2025 MLB Draft would have been the biggest story surrounding the Timber Rattlers on almost any day of the season, but last week he had to share attention with another pair of long-awaited debuts as MLB Pipeline’s #1 and #2 Brewers prospects, infielders Jesús Made and Luis Peña, had also recently joined the team and were playing their first home series.

“It’s super exciting. Obviously there’s going to be a ton of buzz here in the stadium tonight,” Fischer said. “It’s really cool. I’m side-by-side in the locker room with these guys, they’re literally to my left and to my right. So I’m excited to get to know them, from what I hear they’re exciting to watch and they play hard.”

While the trio of new Wisconsin infielders may get to play together for many years to come in the Brewers organization, their efforts to learn to play together faced an immediate hurdle: Fischer, who grew up in New Jersey, does not speak Spanish and Made and Peña are still early in the process of learning English.

“A couple of the other guys here, Pena and Made, I can’t even speak their language but we’re communicating and we’re figuring it out. So I’m excited to get going,” Fischer said.

While he hasn’t had a lot of Spanish-speaking teammates before, Fischer is no stranger to having to make his way through a new clubhouse. Since his senior year of high school he’s played for six teams, including three college programs (Duke, Mississippi and Tennessee), a summer in the Cape Cod League and now the Brewers organization. Timber Rattlers manager Victor Estevez noticed how quickly Fischer was able to make himself at home with his new team.

“He showed up and he connected right away with the players. So that tells you that he’s got some leadership and players are going to gravitate to him.” Timber Rattlers manager Victor Estevez told the Timber Rattlers Review podcast. “And then having players like Peña and Made around him too is going to help. It’s always good to have those kinds of players together because the energy they bring is incredible.”

Andrew Fischer scores Jesús Made on his first pro hit for the High-A @TimberRattlers!

The @Brewers' No. 6 prospect was drafted No. 20 overall this summer out of @Vol_Baseball. pic.twitter.com/mEQAhS24ag

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 15, 2025

Fischer has brought his bat with him across all those prior stops: He was a career .307 hitter with a .672 slugging percentage in college and 56 home runs in 167 games, including 25 for Tennessee this year. He also led the SEC by drawing 63 walks this season on his way to a .497 on-base percentage. He also experienced that success in front of enormous crowds and in wild environments.

“I think there’s a sense of relief coming from college into pro ball, versus going from high school into pro ball or signing internationally, you get to experience all that before you get here. You’re playing in those big games, huge environments. So it’s not nerves, it’s like excitement now. I think if I wasn’t in an environment like that it would be nerves,” Fischer said.

Perhaps more importantly, however, Fischer’s college teams won a lot. Despite playing in two of the nation’s top conferences in the ACC and SEC Fischer was a combined 112-72 across his three seasons at that level. That winning mentality is something he brought with him to professional baseball.

With his 25th home run of the season, Andrew Fischer owns sole possession of second place on the Tennessee single-season home run list. pic.twitter.com/nfpsORfsmU

— John Sartori (@JohnSartoriTV) June 7, 2025

“I guess I just want to set a standard for myself,” Fischer said. “People ask, ‘Who’s Andrew Fischer?’ I just want them to know I play hard and I compete and I want to win. It’s one of those things they instill in you in college is showing up to the ballpark every day to win. I don’t really feel like I’m going to differ from that just because this is Minor League Baseball or whatever. I don’t really care what the record is or anything, I’m going to come out every single day and I want to win.”

Fischer got his wish in his pro debut later that night as he went 3-for-4, stole two bases and drove in three runs in one of Wisconsin’s best wins of the season, an 8-6 comeback victory over Great Lakes. His two-run infield single capped off a five-run eighth inning as the Timber Rattlers rallied to take the lead.

“He’s a grinder. He’s a competitor. He’s got that good energy out there,” Estevez said. “He played really good at third base today and then all of his at bats were outstanding. As you can see we were facing really good arms from Great Lakes today. Most of those guys were 96+ with good breaking balls and he looks pretty good on the hitting side.”

RATTLERS TAKE THE LEAD!!!!🔥⚾️ Speed Kills!!! @sirfischer3

Loons 6 | Rattlers 7 #TRatNation pic.twitter.com/OGN8N7MesN

— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 15, 2025

Fischer’s defense at third base is going to be something prospect evaluators watch closely in the season’s final weeks. Fischer split time pretty evenly between third and first base during his time in college but primarily played first during his junior season at Tennessee. With Wisconsin he’s exclusively played third base in his first seven professional games. In his recap of the draft’s early rounds this year Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs said Fischer’s glove “looked okay enough at third in the past to develop there in pro ball,” encouraging but faint praise. If Fischer can perform well enough to demonstrate the ability to stick at third then his prospect status may elevate quickly.

Within the Brewers’ organization, however, Fischer’s stock doesn’t have that much further to climb. He was the #6 player in the most recent top 30 prospect list at MLB Pipeline, and the five players ahead of him are all on that organization’s list of the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. Before making his professional debut Fischer was already one of the top prospects for a franchise that Baseball America recently ranked as the top farm system in baseball.

Fischer’s first professional team includes many of the names that populate the top of those prospect lists. In addition to Made and Peña, Fischer flew to Appleton from Arizona with rehabbing pitcher and MLB Pipeline #7 prospect Bishop Letson. In his introductory interview Fischer credited catcher and #10 prospect Marco Dinges as having “kind of thrown his wing around me since I’ve been here.” Infielder and #13 prospect Josh Adamczewski has since joined that group after being promoted from Carolina on Tuesday.

Of course, the Brewers’ success in player development at times gets overshadowed by the run of success they’re experiencing in Milwaukee. Fischer met with reporters at Neuroscience Group Field the day after the Brewers had won their 12th of what would go on to be a franchise record 14 consecutive games.

“It’s really cool. How could you want to play anywhere else other than the Brewers right now?” Fischer said. “Just a gritty program, they go out there and handle business every single day, and even if they do drop a game they’re doing whatever it takes to get into the team’s bullpen, kind of get these guys going and later on in the series they’re facing back of bullpen guys. So even their losses, if they do have any, are beneficial in the long run.”

If all goes well Fischer will have plenty of time to become familiar with Wisconsin and the local cuisine across a long professional career. In the meantime, though, Fischer had barely been in the state for 24 hours when he started that learning experience.

“The cheese curds here are good, I’d never had them before, so I tried them and they’re pretty good,” Fischer said

We’re not sorry for spamming your feed with Andrew Fischer content today. #tratnation pic.twitter.com/iSGLdsLSNm

— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 14, 2025